Disused French pipeline reactivated to send natural gas to Germany

France is reactivating a disused pipeline in the Moselle region, originally built for east-west gas flows, to send natural gas to Germany, under the energy deal presented by the French president Emmanuel Macron.

France will be able to deliver 130 gigawatt hours (GWh) a day, a tiny fraction of Germany’s needs, according to French energy ministry officials. Germany, for its part, will provide electricity to France in the event that supplies are limited in the middle of winter.

“Macron is under pressure because of the electricity situation in France. So the message that Germany and France support each other is important,” a German official told Reuters. “We don’t expect France to solve our gas problem. But any possible gas delivery is a signal to the markets that we will make it through the winter,” he added.

By reopening the pipeline, France will be able to send Germany up to 20 terawatt hours (TWh) of gas from its reserves in the winter – an amount equivalent to about 2% of the needs of Europe’s largest economy.

Before the war in Ukraine and cuts in Russian deliveries, gas usually flowed from east to west. France already sends gas to Germany, usually via Belgium or Switzerland. It will be the first time that gas will also start flowing through the Moselle interconnector.

“Germany needs our natural gas and we need electricity from the rest of Europe, especially Germany,” President Macron said yesterday, after the communication he had with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

RES-EMP

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